English novelist Guy Boyd's publisher forces him, against his inclination, to write a biography of the late Gabriel Brown, an eminent dealer in Old Masters. From the start, the project rattles the young Englishman, who has little interest in the Canadian-born connoisseur. As he settles into living in the dead man's house, interviewing his friends and lovers, Guy becomes fascinated with the process of life writing. He even travels to Canada to research the existence of a man who determinedly left no clues behind. But when Guy uncovers the awful truth about Gabriel, the discovery not only changes the kind of book he is writing but also shatters the assumptions upon which he has constructed his own life.